Kirby On Target For England U18s

24 May 2018

Eagles midfielder Nya Kirby scored from the penalty spot as England’s under-18s opened their Panda Cup campaign with a 2-2 draw against Uruguay.

The four-team tournament is being held in China this week, with the Three Lions also due to take on the hosts and Hungary in a round robin format, but things started badly for Neil Dewsnip’s team as they fell behind to the Uruguayans when Thiago Vecino put the South Americans ahead after 16 minutes.

10 of the Young Lions squad in China tasted U17 World Cup success last year, and repeating his heroics from their last-16 shootout victory against Japan, Kirby tucked home a penalty on 62 minutes to level the scores after Reading’s Danny Loader was felled in the box.

England got their noses in front through Manchester City’s Felix Nmecha nine minutes later, but they were forced to kick off their tournament with just a point after Nicolas Schiappacasse equalised with 12 minutes to play.

Next up for England is a game against the hosts in Chengdu on Friday, who claimed a 4-0 win against Hungary in their first fixture, before the tournament ends on Sunday with the final group games.